#prayforjapan

This is an email I received from friends that are missionaries in Japan...
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Dear friends and family,
Your love and support and prayers have been sustaining us. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts. This note is two fold; first, is a personal note from us and second is a note from a fellow missionary which details the way you can help financially. Please read and we will try to post on a more regular basis. Right now the best access for us is through social media and we are updating on Facebook throughout the day. If you would like to receive more details and updates, please go on that site and feel free to "friend us." Thank you for understanding that it is taking a long time to get communication going to everyone.

PART 1
Dear friends,The rolling blackouts are suppose to start today. The schools just called to cancel school in our town. Cali is also not able to go to school since the trains are on limited use. Limiting the trains should help the power/energy by a whole lot.

In a little while, we need to go to the store to try and find milk and bread and eggs. Supplies are flying off the shelves. We also need to go the bank and try to get cash. We have a daily withdrawal limited from our American banks of $500 which is not much with the exchange rate into yen. We are also needing gasoline fuel and we need to make sure we have kerosene for the heaters.

Throughout all this, I saw a note that a fellow missionary sent to me that has brought comfort. We are reminded at this time of whom we serve, of whom we worship and we want to be bold, efficient, effective believers who are seeking to live out the Presence of a very real Living God in the midst of this national tragedy.

On Sunday, we had a full day of worship at both locations and it was a sweet time of fellowship, worship, and prayer. Jeremiah shared out of Psalm 46 and encouraged us to "be still and know He is God." We then turned to a more focused time in prayer and ended the services that way. Both our church buildings sustained quite a bit of structural damages and we will wait to get the assessment done sometime soon. It is a fantastic reminder that we truly are the body of Christ and it is not the building that is called the church.

On Sunday Geigy was also able to join the evangelical ministry meeting for disaster relief called CRASH. The Part 2 of this note will give you CRASH information. In a room, along with nearly 50 other believers, we began organizing and mobilizing in order to bring home to the relief stage of this crisis.

Things you can pray for:

1. Peace of mind as people go about their daily lives that have been drastically changed.
2. Wisdom and guidance for the government officials and rescue workers. We are told in our bibles to pray for our leaders. Please do so, they are in so much need of godly widsom.
3. For believers to have God appointed opportunities to share with people they know in their communities.
4. Personally for our family: please pray that we will be united in prayer, and that our situation will cause us to run to the Lord. Financially, gas prices are sky rocketing and as of Monday morning, Jeremiah tried going all over town to look for gas and did not find any. We continue to trust the Lord in all things.

What you can do for us:

1. Raise awareness and funds for the recovery and relief efforts here in Japan.
2. Keep checking on us even if we cannot personally get back to you.
3. Organize prayer teams and groups to pray and fast for us and our nation, the rescue efforts and the relief teams that need to go in and assist after the rescue phase.

PART 2 - 'HOW CAN I ASSIST?"
This is a concise note written by our fellow missionary, Ryan Beneke, I'll go ahead and post his note in the interest of time and since it is already so well written. Ryan-san domo.

I wanted to write you one last time to share how you can give toward relief efforts in Japan. After much prayer and research, I settled on CRASH (Christian Relief, Assistance, Support and Hope), who will be working with local churches and other Christian organizations like Samaritan’s Purse to minister to earthquake and tsunami victims. I know some of the people involved in these relief efforts personally, and I trust them.
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· Dale Little, president of the Japanese Evangelical Missionary Association (of which Japan CCC is a member), says,“CRASH is the second-to-none relief network in Japan. It is not only endorsed by JEMA; many JEMA missionaries volunteer with CRASH. No other agency is able to assess the needs on the ground like CRASH, and then take steps toward meeting those needs in the name of Jesus. The effectiveness of CRASH includes linking closely with local churches in Japan. Let's pray for Japan, and then act alongside CRASH.”
You can make a tax-deductible donation of $10 or more online through the Japanese Evangelical Missionary Society (JEMS): http://www.razoo.com/story/Help-4-Japan-Donate-Now. You can also get up-to-the-minute information on CRASH’s relief efforts via their group on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/home.php?sk=group_109898789089909. Please remember the CRASH teams and those they will be serving in your prayers today.

Personal note: Jeremiah will be headed to the CRASH command center on Wed. morning to help volunteer. Please pray for the volunteers and the leadership of this very needed ministry.

Also - a church member who owns a home in the area have not been able to communicate with anyone in that town. They have also lost contact with two churches that they were involved in with their music ministry. We will update you and let us know as soon as we find out.

Lastly, people are asking about sending in physical donations like clothing and blankets and food. At this time, any additional goods will add the already stretched limits of many organizations. Right now the best way to help is via financial contributions. Please contact us if you have any questions. If you are interested in making a donation to our family, you can do so and we are thankful.

You can write a check payable to:
GO Ministries
PO BOX 651, NORCO CA 92860 USA
(please write our account #1284 in the memo portion of the check)

Optionally, you can use PayPal on their website http://go.ccnorco.org/

I'm going to keep it short today since we have to go out in a while. Lastly, I comfort myself and you with these words...

Isaiah 26:3
"You will keep him/her in perfect peace,
Whose mind is stayed on You,
Because he/she trusts in You."

--
Jeremiah and Geigy Boek
Serving Jesus in Tokyo Japan

for updates and information:
blog: www.xanga.com/theboekfamily
church website: www.horizonchapel-international.com
Facebook: Jeremiah Boek, Geigy Dazo Boek

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